Chocolate Ice Cake with Nuts

Ingredients

• 500 ml milk
• 1 Vanilla bean
• 7 egg yolks
• 100 g sugar
• 150 g dark chocolate
• 500 ml whipping cream
• 100 g ladyfingers
• 3 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
• 50 ml espresso
• 3 tbsp rum
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp whole hazelnuts (roasted, peeled)
• Chocolate curls for garnish
• 50 g milk chocolate

Instructions

1. 1.

   Pour the milk into a pot. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds, add them to the milk, and heat while stirring. In a metal bowl whisk the egg yolks with sugar over a hot but non-boiling water bath until thick and creamy. Gradually pour the warm milk into the yolk mixture in a thin stream while stirring, then continue whipping until thick and creamy again. Cool the mixture in an ice-water bath.

2. 2.

   Finely chop the chocolate and melt it over another hot but non-boiling water bath. Stir in 50 ml of cream to smooth it out and let it cool slightly. Whip the remaining cream stiffly and fold it into the cold yolk cream. Set aside one-quarter of this mixture. Mix three-quarters of the cream with the melted chocolate. Place both mixtures into an ice cream maker and churn for about 30 minutes.

3. 3.

   Crush the ladyfingers and mix them with chopped hazelnuts, espresso, rum, sugar, and cocoa powder. Fill a piping bag fitted with a large rosette tip with one-third of the chocolate ice cream and pipe it onto a sheet of plastic wrap on a board to form a circle about 20-24 cm in diameter. Spread the ladyfinger mixture in the center, leaving a 1.5–2 cm border. Pipe the remaining white ice cream around the ladyfinger layer and along the edge. Sprinkle toasted hazelnuts over it. Fill another piping bag with the rest of the chocolate ice cream and pipe it onto the vanilla ice cream layer. Top the surface with chocolate curls and refrigerate the cake for 3–4 hours.

4. 4.

   Before serving melt the milk chocolate and lightly coat the lower half of the ice cake, letting it set. Plate on a large dish and serve immediately.